


The Great Blanket Fort Competition

by vix_spes



Series: Ties of the Heart 'verse [4]
Category: Whitechapel (TV)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Kid Fic, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Team Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-10
Updated: 2015-02-10
Packaged: 2018-03-11 12:56:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,673
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3327632
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Miles’ children challenge Riley’s children to a blanket fort competition so of course the whole team gets roped in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Great Blanket Fort Competition

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Pers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pers/gifts), [slightlytookish](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightlytookish/gifts).



It all started out as a bit of friendly teasing at one of the now regular BBQ’s that the team held. No-one knew how the children had got onto the topic but all of a sudden, they were arguing over who made the best blanket forts; Uncle Joe (the Miles boys) or Daddy (Riley’s children). The adults all looked on in bemusement and then with slight alarm as the squabbling increased in volume. Nothing would placate them, adamant as they were about who built the best blanket forts. In the end, the only thing that put a stop to the argument was Riley’s suggestion that they have a competition to see who made the best blanket fort. The kids had agreed immediately and had excitedly set about deciding who was on which team.

Chandler had simply sat there looking more than a little bemused, startling slightly when Miles clapped him on the shoulder.

“I bet you never imagined this when you agreed to babysit that first time.”

“I didn’t think I was ever going to make it through that evening. In all honesty, I was ready to phone you and back out.” He turned his head as Miles bumped their shoulders together.

“In all honesty? I was waiting for you to phone and back out. Look at you now, a regular! And apparently King of the Blanket Forts!”

“Oh come on, don’t be ridiculous Miles.”

“Who’s being ridiculous? Making blanket forts with my lot is probably the best thing you could have come up with. I think Edward cried when we had to take down the last one.”

Their conversation was interrupted by Liam and Edward running up to them, Elizabeth Hope toddling along behind. “Dad, dad, dad! We’ve decided the teams for blanket forts and you and Uncle Kent are on our team. You’ve got to help Uncle Joe build the best fort.”

Miles shared an amused glance with Chandler. “I’ve got to help Uncle Joe? Shouldn’t Uncle Joe be helping me?”

“Noooo! Don’t be silly dad. You’ve got to help Uncle Joe because he makes the best blanket forts. You can help Uncle Joe and Uncle Kent can help you.”

“Sounds like you’ve got everything sorted out. Now, who’s hungry? Shall we get the BBQ started?”

At the sounds of cheering, Miles hauled himself out of his chair and clapped Chandler on the shoulder, startling him out of his scared rabbit look.

“Breathe Joe. It’s nothing you haven’t done already. Just a simple blanket fort.”

~*~

The thing was, it wasn’t as simple as that. After that first time babysitting Miles’ children, Chandler had found himself with something of a regular job. Apparently, he had been something of a success and the children had clamoured for him to babysit until Miles had agreed to ask him. It wasn’t every week, maybe once or twice a month, and, contrary to his expectations, Chandler had found himself enjoying the time that he got to spend with the children.

He’d never really spent time with children before, not even when he was a child himself so it had been an eye-opening experience. He had been on a steep learning curve, particularly where video games were concerned. He was still appallingly bad but he was considerably better than he was, although he was apparently still worse than Miles.

He had stumbled upon the idea of blanket forts after coming to the conclusion that they had been spending too much time watching films and playing on the games console and scouring the internet for suitable activities. Blanket forts weren’t something that he had indulged in as a child. Oh, there had been plenty of evenings when he had pulled his blankets over his head and read book underneath them with the aid of a torch but never blanket forts.

He had, quite frankly, been amazed by the sheer amount of sites and pages dedicated to blanket forts when he searched Google. There was all kinds of information from step-by-step guides as to how to build a blanket fort to so many different ways to decorate them that it had made his mind boggle. It had seemed like the perfect activity though, so he had happily depleted his ink and paper supplies printing off a load of ideas.

The first attempt had been far from successful. They hadn’t had enough blankets, Chandler couldn’t find where Judy kept her pegs and the structure had collapsed on top of their heads. Chandler had been devastated by his seeming failure but the boys had been in fits of laughter and had thought it the best thing ever. Still, Chandler had been determined that the next attempt would be better and had done as much research as he possibly could, even to the extent that he had a rather large folder of research, both on his computer but also on paper. His hard work had paid off; the next blanket fort that he built was a huge success and, despite the multiple attempts from both Chandler and their parents to persuade them otherwise, Liam and Edward had slept in it overnight.

Now that there was a competitive element involved, Chandler was bound and determined to win; he was going to build the best blanket fort that had ever been seen. It didn’t matter that he was going to be competing against members of his own team; traffic weren’t going to be involved in any way so Chandler had every possible chance of winning this. With that in mind, he set about planning with military precision.

~*~

By the time that the agreed upon date had arrived, Chandler was as prepared as possible. He had gone over all of the designs that he had used previously and established which were most likely to be successful. He had gathered up a whole load of extra blankets and several hundred wooden clothes pegs as well as a few stronger steel alligator clips and a couple of wooden poles. He had grand plans for this particular blanket fort because he had absolutely no intention of losing this competition for Liam and Edward. He even had a surprise planned; one that he had researched and tested extensively to ensure that it was safe from a health and safety perspective. He knew that, if he were to ever find out, Miles would never let him down but he was not going to take any risks with Miles’ children.

Everybody else had already gathered by the time that he made it to Miles’ home, the BBQ set up ready in the corner for once they had finished and the kitchen virtually overflowing with food. Lugging the huge bag of supplies with him, he headed straight out into the garden where the children were marvelling over a clearly home-made trophy that had been set on the table.

“Hang on a minute, who’s going to do the judging? Judy and Meg are biased.” Mansell piped up while he cracked open what would, undoubtedly, be the first of many beers.

“Mrs Musgrove from across the road has agreed that her daughter will come over and do the judging. She’s just here for the weekend and she doesn’t know any of the kids so she’s completely unbiased. Now, are you all ready? You have two hours starting … NOW!”

Meg and Judy stood back and watched as both teams started buzzing around the garden, before Judy scooped up Elizabeth and turned to Meg. “Shall we leave them to it? Tea?”

(~*~)

Two hours later it was clear, to all of the adults at least, that Chandler’s blanket fort was clearly far and away the best fort. He had chosen their area of the garden very carefully and utilised several low-hanging branches to help create several different “rooms”. Not only did it look more impressive than the Riley’s effort but, thanks to all of Chandler’s research, it was far more stable than the other fort which wobbled precariously at even the slightest hint of a breeze never mind anybody sitting in it. And that was even without taking into account the fairy lights that Chandler had used as decoration.

While Judy went to fetch their judge, Meg doled out ice-creams to the children and, unsurprisingly, to Mansell and Kent as well. Despite the begging and pleading, Meg refused to be drawn on which fort was the best; mainly as she would have to lie because, much as she loved her children, their blanket fort wasn’t the best of the two. Still, she was more than a little relieved when Judy returned with Miss Musgrove ready to judge the efforts.

Once a decision had been made, leaving some very disappointed Riley children and jubilant Miles’, everybody had settled down for food, after a multitude of photos had been taken, with the children insisting on eating in the forts. There was a bit of worry when the Miles children seemed to disappear for a while but a quick check showed that they were simply occupying themselves with something in their bedroom. The result of their effort soon became known when they came running downstairs, demanding their Uncle Joe’s attention from where he had been talking with their dad.

“Uncle Joe! Uncle Joe!”

Breaking away from the conversation, Chandler looked down to see both Liam and Edward practically bouncing on the spot and Edward clutching something that wasn’t quite recognisable. “And what can I do for you two?”

“We made you something Uncle Joe.”

Liam tugged on Chandler’s arm until he crouched down on his haunches, at which point Edward produced what turned out to be a slightly lopsided, handmade crown that was still slightly sticky and shedding glitter like mad but pronounced him ‘King of the Blanket Forts’ in shaky black marker pen. Dimly, he was aware that the entire team were pulling out their phones and snapping photos but he couldn’t bring himself to stop them, grinning as he was. He couldn’t resist one little warning though.

“Miles, don’t say a word.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Your Majesty.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/182478.html)


End file.
